It's a dangerous business, going out your door…

script

I was on the Speech team all four years of high school. Now that I’m graduated and well into my college years, part of me has held onto my Speech kid background. How? I moved from a competitor to a judge. Instead of being the person talking to walls, I’m the lady with the folder that everyone fears. When I enter the room, the chatter immediately hushes and the air brims with awkwardness. As I scribble on critique sheets, I can almost hear the speaker’s thoughts: “Oh gosh, she’s writing. Why is she writing? She hates it. She’s going to give me a terrible score. Oh gosh. Why did I think this was a good idea?”

Frankly, I love judging. It’s all the perks of high school speech with more down time, no stress, and (best of all) FREE HOMEMADE FOOD. Not to mention the fact that I get paid to do what I love.

Speech judges don a particular mindset when walking into rounds. Consider this a glimpse of that mindset: a sneak-peek into what’s going on in our minds as we scribble away on your critique sheets. Keep what I say in mind next time you’re at a speech meet–you never know when it could help!

So… here we go.

Judges want to like you.

Negative critiques do not mean your speech was bad! It just means there’s room for improvement.

We want you to improve! We want to see you push your performance to be the very possible best!

First impressions are everything. Within the first minute of your speech, we pretty much already have you placed. So make a good first impression.

Speak with energy! Be bold and confident–if you look like you are excited about what you are speaking about, we will be too!

Don’t hold your script in front of your face.

If you’re in a performance category, utilize characters. Please.

In addition to the above, make your characters as over-the-top as you can. There’s nothing worse than flat characters. Make them dynamic! Even if it’s uncomfortable and you look ridiculous, GO BIG!

If you’re in Prose, stop being in Prose.

If you really have your heart set on being in Prose, please pick something innovative. If I have to sit through another selection from The Lovely Bones or A Child Called It, I’m going to punch someone in the face. (Okay, I’m hyperbolizing a bit. But still. Do something original.)

Also, Prose kids–that weird calm, soothing tone you all adapt during narrative portions of your speech? Don’t do it. You all sound exactly the same and it makes it hard to tell you all apart.

Negative critiques do not mean we hate you. They mean that we want you to improve! We are trying to be helpful!

If you’re in Great Speeches, PLEASE use a rhetorical method more original than Aristotle’s stylistic proofs. I’m sick of hearing about ethos, pathos, and logos.

Other cool rhetorical methods include Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation, Metaphorical, Feminist, etc. Do your research. There’s so many cool ones to choose from! (And no, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is NOT a rhetorical model. So don’t use it.)

Also, while on the subject of rhetorical models… please use them correctly!

If you’re in Info, don’t do your speech on a disease. It’s so boring. And, please, don’t explain at the end that a family member suffers from said disease. Yes, this sounds awful. But it doesn’t further the informativeness of your speech and just makes it cheesy.

If you’re going to pick a stupid, unoriginal topic in Info, be creative about it. I once saw a girl do a speech on flowers and she talked about how they were used in ancient cultures and it was super interesting!

If you’re in Creative, make sure your script is well written AND well-performed. You can do an amazing performance, but if the script sucks, you’re screwed. And vice versa–if your script is amazing, but you can’t pull it off, you’re not going to do well. Balance is key.

Please, please, please DO NOT TALK BETWEEN SPEECHES. Or eat. Or text. Or make weird noises. Or do anything that isn’t sitting quietly and patiently. Between speeches, we judges are trying to gather our thoughts and give last-minute comments. Don’t be distracting. It’s really annoying.

Don’t sass the judge–especially when their back is turned. Contrary to what you may think, we CAN hear you and we hold the power. We can (and might) dock your score for rudeness.

If we rip your piece to shreds on your critique sheet, it’s only because we care about you and want to push you to be the very best!

Speech is fun. SO HAVE FUN!

Also, if you think awards ceremonies are boring now… wait until you become a judge. They’re ten times worse.

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to Keep Your Feet! I’m Amelia, a Minnesotan in my twenties working as a librarian in a small town. Here on my corner of the internet, I share my love of books and adventure, with a mix of stories from my life. Feel free to pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and come along.

Like What You're Reading?

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.